Ouch kitty and snoopy . I suffer from it on an on and off basis, my arches can never seem to decide if they want to stay in place or fall. But when they fall, I rub them on a tennis ball and ice alternately and have found that using some plain old medical tape around my big toe and attaching it to the inside of my foot with just some light pressure on the taped toe seems to help put my arches back in place. (Normally I use the white cloth tape but used clear in the photo below just to give an idea on pressure, but you need the little extra stretch that cloth tape provides to be able to walk still with it taped up.) Also split sole shoes help a lot too. I need to replace my last pair, but look for ones that you can adjust the lacing on in the arch area of the foot, it will allow you to customize your arch support to wherever you need it (and at only about $40-50 a pair is far cheaper than custom made orthotic shoes).

Gently stretch everyday, avoid walking around barefoot too often, massage the arch and foot throughout the day, ice any inflammation and soothe pain with a nice "lukewarm" saltwater foot bath and if you can tolerate it apply some ligament (absorbine, aspercreme...) but I have found that the so called arch support booties and foot wrap things that only apply pressure to the arch itself are totally useless. They don't address the other parts of the foot being affected and do to address the real issue that is causing it to fall in the first place. (Tighten Achilles' tendon being a main culprit, bunions another though more often if you aren't a card carrying member of the pointed toe shoe brigade it's a side-effect of the fallen arch syndrome.)

But given the length of time you've been suffering as well as the swelling across the top of your foot and your ankle... have they taken an MRI yet? That's not typical of plantar fasciitis...discoloration and mild swelling on the bottom of your foot is normal and expected but it shouldn't be affecting the top of your foot and ankle. Sounds like you have a lot more going on than a simple flat foot, so if the doctor hasn't already ordered an MRI it might be time to find a new doctor, probably a sports medicine doctor.

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